Some of the wettest English weather (according to the Met Office) since 1766 has been followed by the coldest spring for 50 years. The links between such "extreme weather" and climate change are far from clear, but uncertainty and anxiety have sharpened policy-makers' appetite for a more disciplined approach to decisions about how, how much - and when - we need to adapt.

In a year-long project for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Frontier has been developing the economic framework underpinning the UK’s National Adaptation Programme Report, published at the beginning of July.